World Goodwill at the UN

Organized Civil Society

 

World Goodwill was represented at one of the last side events of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF): “Involving civil society in the implementation of the post-2015 agenda” which was organized, in part, by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), a group of European NGOs. 

Around 90 representatives gathered at the seminar on Tuesday, 7 July, to discuss the role of organized civil society in the future Sustainable Development Goals as well as the financing for development that will allow for the implementation of the goals.

With 3 global conferences at the highest level being organized (those on development financing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in mid-July, (Lucis - Cycle of Conferences), SDGs in New York in September, and climate change in Paris in December), civil society NGOs have to deliver a strong and unified message.

The EESC will send a delegation to the financing for development conference in Addis Ababa. 

“Financing development – the position of civil society”, an opinion paper distributed to all attendees, stated that all available financial resources must be exploited, including domestic resources (through reformed fiscal schemes), private-public partnerships (based on transparency and shared responsibilities), and more innovative tools such as micro financing and crowd funding.

The meeting elucidated the possible potential and future promise of an “organized civil society.”

World Goodwill at the High Level Political Forum

The High Level Political Forum of Sustainable Development (HLFP) is the main UN platform on sustainable development, providing political leadership, guidance and recommendations.  It addresses new and emerging challenges, and enhances the integration of economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. 

The HLPF is meeting this year, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council from 28 June to 8 July in New York.  The major questions being addressed include:

“Where do we stand in formulating an ambitious and transformative post-2015 development agenda? How can we resolve outstanding issues?”

“How do we integrate the SDGs into planning and policy making at all levels, balancing economic, social and environmental dimensions? How can we best learn from one another in this regard?”

“How can the post-2015 development agenda be best communicated so as to inspire and engage all actors and harness creativity and innovation?”

“What must we do differently to mobilize and allocate resources so as to realize the SDGs? What does the shared vision to “leave no one behind” imply in terms of financing for the new development agenda?”

 

On Tuesday, 30 June, World Goodwill was in attendance at a side event to the HLPF that called for an informal exchange among civil society, member states, and UN staff to focus on the question, “How do we strengthen the engagement of civil society?”

It is becoming increasingly apparent that civil society organizations will have an essential role to play in achieving the sustainable development goals and, at this point, opportunities for more meaningful and inclusive engagement are being developed.

The UN’s Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) which, for the last 40 years, has served to fulfill its mandate in promoting and developing constructive relations between the UN and civil society by widely circulating information to civil society, is now staking out the opportunity to more formally facilitate civil society’s participation in UN processes and deliberations. A civil society mechanism or a CSM is being discussed as a way to institutionalize the bringing forth of certain voices to the table.

NGLS representatives spoke on behalf of “serving member states” by having more of an open platform that will insure a measure of inclusivity for all of civil society around the world, citing the most recent example of Mr. Xiuhtezeatl Roske Martinez, a 15 year old indigenous climate activist and Youth Director of Earth Guardians, who NGLS had invited to speak at the opening segment of the High-level event of the United Nations General Assembly on Climate Change (29 June 2015).

UN Live United Nations Web TV - Meetings & Events - Xiuhtezcatl, Indigenous Climate Activist at the High-level event on Climate Change

Civil society representatives noted that NGO’s tend to be “self-organized apart from the UN” and, in any future mechanism of engagement, it is important that they are “not dominated” by the UN process. The example was given of the NGO Working Group on Peace would like to have a group voice in any discussion, but thw Working Group is not recognized by the UN.

It became clear that civil society intended to self-regulate themselves toward freedom of expression while, at the same time, being willing to cooperate with NGLS.

“If we are to succeed, the new agenda must become part of the contract between people, including civil society (…).  Empowered civil society actors, through action and advocacy, must rally to the cause, and contribute to a sustainable, equitable, and prosperous future.”  The Road to Dignity by 2013, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

 

Jeffrey Sachs Interview: UN adviser stresses 2015 critical to setting world on safer, more prosperous path

4 May 2015 – To say that 2015 is a big year for sustainable development may be an understatement given that, over the course of six months beginning in July, countries have the opportunity to take decisions that will determine the global course of action to end poverty, promote prosperity, protect the environment and address climate change.

“This year is a unique opportunity for our generation to set clear goals and clear pathways to a safer, better, more prosperous world,” says economist Jeffrey Sachs, who is Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of global anti-poverty targets that were supposed to be achieved by 2015.

In an interview with the UN News Centre, the internationally renowned development expert explains why it is urgent for the world to change direction and embark on a more sustainable path, what he hopes countries will achieve during this critical year, and what it will take to truly end poverty – which he stresses is not just an economic challenge but a moral one. The interview has been edited for content and clarity.

UN News Centre: The UN has dubbed 2015 the time for global action for people and the planet. Why is this year so crucial?

Jeffrey Sachs: This is the big year for sustainable development. It’s happened for various diplomatic reasons that everything’s converging in 2015. We have of course the adoption of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in September 2015. That was a decision taken back in 2012 at the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit – that we would have SDGs. With the Millennium Development Goals ending, the new sustainable development goals will be adopted in September.

Then, because of the setbacks in Copenhagen way back in 2009 on the climate negotiations, a new timetable was set to reach a good, solid agreement, and it was decided that that would be December 2015 – same year, almost back-to-back with the sustainable development goals. So the world heads to COP21 – the 21st Conference of the Parties – in Paris in late November, early December.

Then countries said, well if we’re going to implement all of this, how are we going to paying for it? We need financing for sustainable development. And a third high-level meeting was put on the agenda in Addis Ababa in July – the Conference on Financing for Development.

Well that’s an amazing line-up – July, September, December – that gives us a chance to change direction in the world to adopt sustainable development as a true operating principle for the planet. It’s urgent that we change direction and this year is a unique opportunity for our generation to set clear goals and clear pathways to a safer, better, more prosperous world.

 

UN News Centre: With so many important issues on the global agenda this year, what is the one thing, in your view, that governments must achieve in 2015?

Jeffrey Sachs: Governments have to achieve a new vision – that is the vision of sustainable development, which means combining economic development, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. That’s the concept that can keep us safe, that can be a path to fairness in the world, and a path to prosperity. So by taking that holistic vision and putting it front and centre, whether it’s for finance, whether it’s for new goals or whether it’s for climate, we can have success.

UN News Centre: How would you assess the Millennium Development Goals, which have been the blueprint for the global community for the past 15 years?

Jeffrey Sachs: I think the Millennium Development Goals have shown that goals matter. When they were announced in September 2000, there was a lot of skepticism. In fact, I’m sure that some leaders didn’t even realize they had adopted goals when they adopted the Millennium Declaration… But now we see no cause for cynicism. The MDGs found a foothold. They helped countries all over the world to focus… that our highest priority is the life and death struggle of poor people, to help them, not only to survive but to get out of extreme poverty.

And while they didn’t achieve all that we could have achieved, and all that we said we would achieve, they did spur a lot of progress. So much so that in 2012, when governments were reviewing sustainable development, they said ‘Hmm, our treaties aren’t working as well as they need to but look at those Millennium Development Goals, they’re not even treaties but they’re having a big public effect.’ So that was one of the motivations for having sustainable development goals… the progress that was being achieved under the Millennium Development Goals.

Now one could also point out [that] we could have done more… should have done more. The promises for example of reaching 0.7 [per cent of gross national income for official development assistance] or making better efforts to 0.7 by the rich countries… mostly did not materialize… But even with the financial crisis, even with the failure of follow through in some areas, when you think about the progress on fighting AIDS, the progress on fighting malaria, TB, the children in school, the reductions of maternal mortality rates, the more people that have access to safe water, and of course, the overall triumph that if you look at the developing countries as a whole, poverty has been more than halved in its rate, comparing 1990 till today, one can take a lot of satisfaction and have the sense that goals matter. Let’s get on to good, strong sustainable development goals, of which SDG 1 will be finish the job of the MDGs. Let’s end extreme poverty by the year 2030.

UN News Centre: Do you think it’s possible to eradicate poverty in our lifetime and if so, what will it take?

Jeffrey Sachs: Of course it’s possible to eradicate poverty when you realize how rich this world is. For well under 1 per cent of the income of the rich countries, we could finish the job of ending extreme poverty. The challenge of course is partly economic, partly technological, but fundamentally moral. It’s a matter of mobilizing the will and the commitment to follow through on expanding access to health care and expanding access to education; on helping smallholder farmers to be more productive; on giving skills and training to young people in the rapidly growing urban areas of low-income countries; of making sure that there is wireless broadband that can really be a great platform for new jobs, new applications, new industries, new outreach, new governance.

Yes, of course we can do it. And it wouldn’t take much. It would basically take our attention. That I find to be the real limiting factor. We’re distracted. We’re easily thrown off course. We’re fighting emergencies sometimes that aren’t real emergencies, but not looking at what we really could do over the medium term. If we set our eyes firmly on 2030 and say by then we end extreme poverty, this can be done.

UN News Centre: You’ve said that sustainable development is “the greatest, most complicated challenge humanity has ever faced.” Can you explain?

Jeffrey Sachs: We have, at the core, a kind of collision course that we didn’t expect. And that is that the world economy is growing, and I’d say growing rather robustly though perhaps not as strong and not as universally as we would like. But the planet itself is not growing. You have an expanding world population, an expanding world economy on a finite planet. What we have seen therefore, what the scientists are telling us every day, is we’re hitting planetary boundaries.

Whether it’s human-induced climate change or ocean acidification or change in the nitrogen cycle or freshwater scarcity or massive industrial pollutants or destroying habitat and losing biodiversity, this juggernaut of a world economy is pressing against the finite limits of the planet so strongly that we’re endangering millions of species, including the human one.

And this is something that is new for us because humanity and our world economy was never so big, so demanding in using resources that we would actually threaten a global-scale environmental crisis. But the momentum of the world economy is so strong, the interests are so strong, the way companies behave so powerful that changing course and doing it in a cooperative way that still allows developing countries to continue to grow rapidly and find their space, but at a global scale, while living respectfully within the planetary boundaries, this is something new for humanity.

It’s feasible; it requires a course change; it requires the adoption of new sustainable technologies; it requires the best intellects around the world to help solve problems and design new, more sustainable systems. It’s within reach. It’s a hard problem. It’s our generation’s problem. It’s the core purpose of adopting sustainable development goals.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=50758#.VVS8zJPwCgS

The Millennium Development Goals Report for 2014

The Millennium Development Goals Report for 2014 is out.  ‎www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/english/UNDP_MDGReport_EN_2014Final1.pdf

 

The Report is in response to the wishes of the General Assembly for periodic assessment of progress toward the MDG's.

Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, brings to our attention that at this time, "Member States are now fully engaged in discussions to define Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will serve as the core of a universal post-2015 development agenda. Our efforts to achieve the MDGs are a critical building block towards establishing a stable foundation for our development efforts beyond 2015."

The United Nations Development Progam reviewed the Report, summarizing:

"This report examines the latest progress towards achieving the MDGs. It reaffirms that the MDGs have made a profound difference in people’s lives. Global poverty has been halved five years ahead of the 2015 timeframe. Ninety per cent of children in developing regions now enjoy primary education, and disparities between boys and girls in enrollment have narrowed. Remarkable gains have also been made in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis, along with improvements in all health indicators. The likelihood of a child dying before age five has been nearly cut in half over the last two decades. That means that about 17,000 children are saved every day. The target of halving the proportion of people who lack access to improved sources of water was also met."

"The concerted efforts of national governments, the international community, civil society and the private sector have helped expand hope and opportunity for people around the world. But more needs to be done to accelerate progress. We need bolder and focused action where significant gaps and disparities exist."

 It is reported that 700 million people still live in extreme poverty.  11% of the population still do not have access to an improved source of drinking water.  14% of the people living in developing regions are undernourished.  162 million children are still suffering from chronic undernutrition.  58 million children are out of school (50% of them live in conflict-affected areas).  A billion people still need to resort to open defecation.  Every day, in 2013, 32,000 people had to abandon their home to seek protection from conflict.

Regional and country progress reports can be found at:  MDG Reports | UNDP

Although analysis of the report point to the importance of intensifying efforts to meet all MDG targets (in times of conflict and slow world economic growth), much hope is gained from the MDGs showing that progress is possible, providing the platform for further action.  

Let us hold a good thought close to heart, strengthening all that is being done to help prepare the way for a world of unity, justice and peace; a world in which the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (equality & resources for all of humanity) will be achieved with a Love to all and for all. 

 

 

 

Building a Sustainable Future Requires Leadership from State and Citizen

Check out this article on the SDG's, just published by the International Peace Institute. It is a combined project by Jimena Leiva-Roesch of the Guatemala Mission to the UN who worked on the negotiation of the General Assembly's recent Open Working Group set of 17 Goals; inspired Tunisian thinker Youssef Mahmoud, who is a former Special Representative to the UN Secretary General and Head of the Peace Keeping Mission in CHAD and the Central African Republic, and Steve Nation, the Director of World Goodwill's New York office.


http://theglobalobservatory.org/opinion/826-sustainable-future-leadership-state-citizen.html

How Will Our Sustainable Development Goals Be Financially Supported?

 

 

One of the first questions asked about the new Sustainable Development Goals being developed on behalf of and by all of us at the United Nations is: How will the Goals be funded? Where will the money come from to achieve any of the specific targets by 2030?  Another way of looking at the same question is for governments, people of goodwill and civil society organizations to think – if we plan to achieve these targets by 2030 what sums of money will we need to invest this year, next year and so on.  

It is not as if money is in short supply. The current global savings (public and private) of US$22 trillion a year are sufficient to fund the goals.  But the current allocation of investments, how we are directing our money, needs to change. This was the basic message delivered by the Co-Chairs of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing during a recent briefing at the United Nations. (http://www.un-ngls.org/IMG/doc/UN NGLS_Summary_of_18_July_briefing_by_ICESDF_Co-Chairs.doc).  

At the Rio + 20 Earth Summit Heads of State  recognized that if sustainable development commitments are to become sustainable development outcomes, financing is critical. With this in mind the Intergovernmental Committee was formed, under the auspices of the UN General Assembly, to assess financial needs and evaluate additional initiatives needed to meet these needs. It consists of 30 experts on the mobilization of resources from a variety of sources and the effective use of financing. The experts were nominated by regional groups of governments, with equitable geographical representation.

A World Goodwill representative recently attended the 3rd meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee’s Fifth Session at the UN earlier this month.  The meeting was an open interactive multi-stakeholders dialogue where the Committee Members listened to a wide range of views.  Issues raised included the need for a debt work out mechanism, calling for an international bankruptcy process that is fair, neutral, transparent, accountable and serves all of us. Concern was also raised about the need to strengthen international governance on tax matters, with the idea being to elevate the UN's Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters to an intergovernmental body.  There was a focus on having a Human Rights based approach to financing sustainable development.  The idea of "the commons" was raised several times; one idea was to tax the things that we want to diminish (tax resources being used) rather than tax labor.  There was a suggestion that people be empowered with on-line support services in sustainable development, sharing "how to" information and enabling local service providers, in effect, helping everyone in their efforts to learn how to fish. 

Attending the meeting, it was clear that we're witnessing a slow and steady maturing of international groups dealing with world economics, preserving the integrity and sovereignty of nations while enhancing a shared commitment to the work of securing sustainable development for all.  There were echoes of the principle of sharing in so many of the comments – signs of the future. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sustainable Development Goals – Planning for a Culture of Goodwill

In 2015 the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) come to an end. Governments agreed on a set of eight goals for human development that they could achieve by the year 2015 through cooperation, and they laid out a plan of action detailing how they would achieve each goal and how they would measure the results of their actions. In part this was a result of political negotiation between so-called developed and developing nations and in part it was an expression of the visionary spirit that accompanied the transition into a new millennium.  

While there are critics of the MDGs as being top down there is no doubt that the goals have mobilized governments to concentrate their energies in development issues around the eight goals. Cooperation has grown since 2000, development initiatives have been more targeted and there have been some significant successes. The Goals do reflect aims that people of goodwill can readily agree to, regardless of their faith or circumstances: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; ensure all people have access to safe drinking water; promote gender equality; and so on. Thanks to the MDGs there is now a momentum in UN affairs for these plans and targets to become the actual, living purposes of peoples and governments rather than just a set of inspiring documents.

 In other words the story of the MDGs is an important part of the story of the awakening will of humanity as a whole. As a species we are in process of developing a common will.  

Right now there is a process underway to define a new set of goals (Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs) that will focus government and UN development plans for the next 15 year period, 2015 – 2030. Much has been learnt since 2000 and goodwill networks around the world are becoming more actively involved in pushing governments to come up with goals that reflect current human aspirations for a better world.

The discussions and negotiations leading up to the SDGs are unprecedented in history. Never before has there been this level of discussion involving such a variety of actors. 

The General Assembly process is being conducted by a Working Group of 30 members. To date the members have met in 12 sessions, during which they have presented their own position papers around major themes as well as listening to and consulting with civil society groups,professionals, academics, business, religious groups, local government and other stakeholders.  

Most governments want to have a voice in this process, but with only 30 members of the Group, a new UN model has developed. Countries with similar perspectives join togethe to share a membership, share a seat, at the Working Group consultations. Colombia and Guatemala, for example share one seat – as do Australia, Netherlands and UK; India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; Denmark, Ireland and Norway; Canada, Israel and USA; China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan. This creates a new dynamic of cooperation requiring countries to agree in advance to share positions so that delegates for one of the countries in the cluster can speak on behalf of all. So while India and Pakistan have a history of conflict, in this important work of shaping a common set of goals for the planet they are working together with their South Asian neighbor, Sri Lanka, striving to sound one voice.

The General Assembly round of discussions is coming to a conclusion as governments negotiate around 17 goals, each with their own set of measurable targets – although, with one more meeting in July, the situation is still fluid. While the MDG goals were defined around key issues (poverty; maternal health; HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases etc) the SDGs focus on broader themes. The main draft under current negotiation includes: Attain a healthy life for all at all ages; Reduce inequality within and among countries ; End poverty in all its forms everywhere; Ensure access to affordable, sustainable, and reliable modern energy services for all; Achieve peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law, effective and capable institutions; Promote sustainable consumption and production patterns .... 

Each of the 17 goals under discussion is fleshed out with a series of specific and measurable targets – and these targets are currently under serious negotiation. For example, proposed Goal 10 is to reduce inequality within and among countries. The current document under negotiation includes seven targets for reducing inequality among social groups within countries such as ‘by 2030 eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and practices’ and ‘achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40% of the population that is higher than the national average through 2030’. Five targets deal with International Actions to reduce Inequalities among Nations – including ‘improve regulation of global financial markets and institutions and their implementation’ and the general ‘establish measures at global level to reduce inequality among countries’. 

This whole General Assembly series of negotiations are only one track in a wider process which includes a High Level Panel of Eminent Persons (chaired by the Heads of State from Indonesia, Liberia and the UK) which published its report of recommendations last year; a Task Team from over 60 UN agencies and international organizations; national, regional, global and thematic consultations with organizations and people of concern; and an Independent Sustainable Development Solutions Network of research centers around the world – led by Jeffrey Sachs.The process of bringing all these streams together will heat up during the major gatherings surrounding the opening of the General Assembly Session in September this year – this is the time when Heads of State gather. It is a time to hold the process in the light and visualize the steady maturing of the will to good in human affairs.  

You can read the Zero Draft document used for the negotiations in the Open Working Group meeting in June at: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/4044140602workingdocument.pdfhttp://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/4044140602workingdocument.pdf

Toward a Vision of the Future: 2015 - 2030

There is a historic process of dialogue and negotiation currently underway as the United Nations seeks to define a new set of goals for the post 2015 world. What vision of the future will inspire and drive the United Nations agenda? How will the UN plan to achieve the goals it sets? What impact will these goals have on the lives of billions of human beings? And, more important than anything – how does this involve me and my family?  

 

These are all critical questions that are central to the process of negotiating a new set of Sustainable Development Goals for the future period 2015 - 2030. Right now the Goals are beginning to solidify around 16 focus areas – 16 themes where specific goals and targets will be set. This week the Open Working Group of Governments in the General Assembly is meeting together with civil society and interested parties in its Eleventh Session to help to flesh out the themes and to begin to seek agreement on specific targets.

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It is worth listing the 16 Focus Areas and their major associated goal. We can visualize a massive organizing of goodwill forces in these 16 focus areas during the next 15 years. We can imagine history being shaped as people from all viewpoints begin to organize their lives in some small way around one of these points of focus. Imagine people of goodwill increasingly finding purpose and meaning in their contribution to one of these focus areas. Imagine a future where, during the next 15 years, young people entering into their working lives become increasingly engaged in a vast variety of activities designed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals – locally, nationally, regionally and globally. We can nurture this future possibility in our imagination and in our actions.  

 

The Sustainable Development Goals invite us to imagine the coming years 2015 - 2030 in terms of a dynamic movement towards right relations. The goals will include specific targets to be achieved by 2030.

 

Focus Area 1. Poverty eradication, building shared prosperity and promoting equality: End poverty in all its forms everywhere;

 Focus Area 2. Sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition: End hunger and improve nutrition for all through sustainable agriculture and improved food systems;

 Focus Area 3. Health and population dynamics: Healthy life at all ages for all;

 Focus Area 4. Education and life-long learning: Provide quality education and life-long learning for all;

Focus Area 5. Gender equality and women’s empowerment: Attain gender equality and women’s empowerment everywhere;

Focus Area 6. Water and sanitation: Water and sanitation for a sustainable world;

Focus Area 7. Energy: Ensure access to affordable, sustainable, and reliable modern energy for all;

Focus Area 8. Economic growth, employment and infrastructure: Promote sustainable, inclusive and sustained economic growth and decent jobs for all;

Focus Area 9. Industrialization and promoting equality among nations: Promote sustainable industrialization and equality among nations;

Focus Area 10. Sustainable cities and human settlements: Build inclusive, safe and sustainable cities and human settlements;

Focus Area 11. Sustainable Consumption and Production: Promote sustainable consumption and production patterns;

Focus Area 12. Climate change: Take urgent and significant action to mitigate and adapt to climate change - Build a climate change goal based on the outcome of COP21 of the UNFCCC;

Focus Area 13. Conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, oceans and seas: Take urgent and significant actions for the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, oceans and seas;

Focus Area 14. Ecosystems and biodiversity: Protect and restore terrestrial ecosystems and halt all biodiversity loss;

Focus Area 15. Means of implementation/Global partnership for sustainable development: Strengthen global partnership for sustainable development.

Focus area 16. Peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law and capable institutions.  Peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law and capable institutions 

 

As preparation for the 11^th Session of the Open Working Group this week, a Working Document has been prepared summarizing proposals for the goals. It is well worth studying this summary: ‎sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/3686WorkingDoc_0205_additionalsupporters.pdf

 

For those who want to follow this more rigorously, it is worth exploring some of the documents under consideration on the UN website for the Open Working Group: Eleventh session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform as well as the latest UN NGO Liaison Service newsletter on the process:  UN-NGLS Releases Issue #6 of The 2015 Post - United Nations - Non-governmental Liaison Service; and the major civil society site where you can vote on major themes you and your family want to be included in the Sustainable Development Goals:  My World 2015 | Vote for the world you want to see.

 

International Day of Happiness

On 12 July 2012, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to mark 20 March as International Happiness Day.  The initiative was brought forth by the country of Bhutan, a country which has recognized the supremacy of national happiness over national income for over 40 years.  Bhutan had also proposed, a few years ago, that there be a 9th Millennium Development Goal of global happiness.

This year, on 20 March,the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, shared with us, "Happiness may have different meanings to different people."  From his perspective, happiness is implicit in The Charter of the UN, promoting peace, justice, human rights, social progress, and improved standards of life.  He is quick to tie the notion of happiness on a global scale to discussions of sustainable development and to the future we want, measuring and accounting for a broader well being and not simply to national income.

 Ban Ki-moon envisions that a new economic paradigm is needed for global happiness.  He referred to gross global happiness as being based on the three pillars of social, economic, and environmental well being.

The President of the 68th General Assembly, John Ashe, spoke of happiness as an aspiration of all human beings, with the pursuit of happiness as a fundamental human goal.  He sees the post-2015 goals, to the extent that they are being defined in a way that is people centered and all inclusive, as driving toward a universal well being, and global happiness is just that, "a universal well being."

We posed the question, "What does happiness mean to you?" as a post on our facebook page, "World Goodwill at the UN" and received back a few lines from the lyrics to a song in the play, "Charlie Brown." "Happiness is having a brother, sharing a sandwich, getting along. Happiness is learning to whistle, knowing a secret, catching a firefly and setting it free. Happiness is singing together and happiness is those who sing with you ..." And then others joined in, "Happiness is having my college basketball team upset the Tourney," and with lyrics from "Happiness Runs" ... "Everybody is a part of everything anyway.  You can have everything if you just let yourself be."  "Happiness is sitting among the trees."  "Happiness is family."  "Happiness is what u love to do ..."  and "Happiness is family love...and all God's blessings."

The UN held two briefings on the International Day of Happiness. In the morning, the meeting, "Happiness Happening:  Impacting Communities Globally," featured a panel of speakers which included the Permanent Representatives of Iraq, Denmark (defined as the" happiest country in the world") and El Salvador.  The discussion focussed on how communities are making choices to collaborate and share in an effort to create a higher quality of living.  In the afternoon, the discussion was on "Sharing Happiness Initiatives for the Post-2015 Agenda," with a focus on how entrepreneurs are taking the lead in contributing to solutions in the world, seeing problems as opportunities while inspiring others to join them.  We're learning how to share resources in building sustainable communities.

 Often when we think of people being happy, it is easy to use our creative imaginations to readily visualize them laughing, yes?  Laughter is contagious.  Goodwill or love in action is also contagious, but may not have direct and immediate correlation.  When one person starts to laugh, it triggers a direct reaction with those in the surrounding area also starting to laugh.  Goodwill triggers goodwill.  Underlying efforts to nurture the 3 pillars of social, economic, and environmental well being is a groundswell of goodwill or love in action. 

World Goodwill and Defining Post-2015 Goals at the UN

The process of reaching some consensus on new human development goals is well underway at the UN.  In addressing the question, "What will our goals be after 2015?", the Millenium Development Goals are seen as being successful in moving us to where we are today. Now the focus is shifting into the work of defining new Sustainable Development Goals.  This presents considerable challenges and opportunities for cooperation between different sectors of global society:  governments, people's organizations, business etc.

 

There has been a pronounced measure of goodwill throughout the process of defining the new Sustainable Development Goals: the UN has invited civil society to use the creative imagination in visualizing what a better world looks like, asking, "Please share with us what you see."  Impressions that have been gathered from all around the world have been published on the internet (MY World) for everyone to see, and have been condensed into policy briefs for consideration by governments at the UN. 

 

These policy briefs are being discussed during sessions, currently in progress, of the General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals.  Civil society recommendations are being presented and discussed during these sessions of the General Assembly working group in an atmosphere of cooperation that is unprecedented.

 

To date, six policy briefs from civil society have been provided to the Open Working Group:  macroeconomic policy issues; energy; global governance; human rights; means of implementation in the global partnership for development; and sustainable consumption and production and climate change mitigation.

 

All policy briefs from NGO's for the Open Working Group can be found on the UN-NGLS web site:  UN-NGLS publishes Policy Briefs for the OWG on SDGs - United Nations - Non-governmental Liaison Service

The full sessions of the Open Working Groups are broadcast live and available on archive at webtv.un.org. 

 

A few days ago, May East, representing international movements engaged with the re-designing of sustainable human settlements, Global Ecovillage and Transition Town movements, was given the floor.

 "To truly make a difference, an urban Sustainable Development Goal would need to mobilize the greatest range of voices and experiences of all urban actors including local authorities, uban NGO's, planners and community members...Despite the state of the cities, if we do not have a positive vision of the future of our cities we will never get there.  We need new narratives.  They need to be bold, courageous and provocative.  They need to combine the technical and the human."

 

Let's hold a good thought close to heart for the efforts of the Open Working Group.